The Science of Miracles

by Joe Nickell

  Visionary experiences, like those of Shirley MacLaine, can also have prosaic explanations. They may be due to pilgrims’ heightened expectations and other factors, including the propensity of certain individuals to fantasize. MacLaine exhibits several traits associated with a “fantasy-prone” personality. Such persons may have rich fantasy lives, believe they have psychic powers, supposedly receive special messages from higher beings, report vivid dreams and apparitional experiences, and so forth (Wilson and Barber 1983; Baker and Nickell 1992) (see part 4).

  MacLaine's “dream-visions” that occurred when she rested along the Camino, having an experience that “seemed more than a dream” (MacLaine 2000, 79, 105), may have been what is termed “lucid dreaming.” A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer is able to direct the dreaming, “something like waking up in your dreams” (Blackmore 1991). In fact, MacLaine (2000, 59) says she “realized that on some level I must be controlling in some manner what I dreamed.” That she had her dream-visions while hiking nearly five hundred miles at a rate of up to twenty miles a day is interesting, since it is known that lucid dreaming tends to occur following “high levels of physical (and emotional) activity” (Blackmore 1991, 365).

  Similar explanations may apply to the apparitions reported by some “New Age visitors” to Santiago de Compostela—ghostly pilgrims seen “making their way through the city to the holy shrine” (Hauck 2000). Such apparitions may be nothing more than mental images that are superimposed upon the visual scene—especially if the experiencer is daydreaming or performing some routine activity (Nickell 2000), conditions consistent with walking on a long journey.

  As to any protective powers supposedly obtained by hugging the saint's statue, my own experience belied any such notion. After performing the charming ritual myself, I stepped up onto a narrow ledge of the small chamber to attempt a better view for some snapshots. While I survived that precarious act, later in the afternoon I slipped on steps outside my hotel in La Coruña and broke my leg very badly. (Picture me lying in agony surrounded by skeptics who suggest that I may only have a sprain and invite me to see if I can wiggle my toes. But when I lift my leg and they observe the bizarre angle of the foot, their doubts are silenced!)

  If the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela does not house a saint's relics that exude supernatural power, it nevertheless is a monument to the persistence of magical thinking. Built apparently on the site of a Roman shrine to Jupiter (with accompanying necropolis), it became a focal point for Christian pilgrims, yet it is now seemingly undergoing further transition as New Agers adapt it to their occultish superstitions. They see it as a site of powerful “psychic energy” and the pilgrimage route as a tracing of mystical “ley lines” (Hauck 2000; MacLaine 2000, 4–5). Although specific beliefs change, what philosopher Paul Kurtz (1991) terms “the quest for transcendence” seems perpetual.

  Growing up in Morgan County, Kentucky, in the Appalachian foothills, I heard a colorful legend of a remarkably preserved corpse that had been discovered in the nineteenth century when a cemetery was being relocated. I would later learn of certain “incorruptible” bodies—many of them saints of the Roman Catholic Church—found worldwide. Such cases are often held to contravene science, but is there more to the phenomenon than meets the eye?

  “PETRIFIED GIRL”

  Extensive research I conducted on the Kentucky case in the early 1990s revealed that the unmarked grave in question had been that of a seventeen-year-old girl named Nancy A. “Nannie” Wheeler, who had died October 1, 1885. When she was exhumed, the fact that her coffin proved too heavy to lift and that her body was remarkably preserved led people to conclude she was “petrified,” and so a folktale was launched that grew in the retelling (Nickell 1994).

  In fact, petrifaction in the case of a coffin burial is exceedingly rare. Several “petrified” people have been outright hoaxes, including the Forest City man, shown at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the “Pine River Man” (made of water lime, sand, and gravel) “discovered” in 1876, the “Colorado Man” (faked for P. T. Barnum at a cost of $2,000), and others, including the notorious Cardiff Giant (unearthed at Cardiff, New York, in 1869) (MacDougall 1958, 23–24; Stein 1993, 123–24, 145).

  Many times bodies are said to be petrified when observers are simply astonished to find them in a surprising state of preservation. The excessive weight in the case of Miss Wheeler's coffin was coincident with its having been waterlogged, necessitating the drilling of holes to drain the water.

  As to the remarkable preservation, it was unlikely that the body had been embalmed even though it had remained relatively free of decomposition for almost thirty months. However, as is well known to forensic pathologists, a body long submerged in water—as apparently occurred in this instance—can form a whitish, soap-like substance called adipocere (or “grave wax”) that may develop in the outer layer of fat after a few months. (Spitz 1993, 38). This condition is estimated to become “complete in adult bodies” after about eighteen months (Gonzales et al. 1954, 68). Depending on subsequent conditions, the body may eventually take on the leathery effect of mummification, or it may eventually decompose completely (Ubelaker and Scammell 1992, 150–51; Geberth 1993, 571–72).

  Whatever the actual facts regarding Nannie Wheeler, she does appear to have been well preserved—some say as beautiful as she had been in life, with her hands still clutching her hat. However, the time between burial and disinterment had been less than two and a half years, and there have been instances of excellent preservation over much longer periods—also without apparent embalming.

  THE “INCORRUPTIBLES”

  Among the remarkable cases of preservation are the corpses of several Catholic saints, such as St. Charles Borromeo (1538–1584) and St. Philip Neri (1515–1595), who are said to be “incorruptible” and “undoubtedly miraculous” (figure 24.1). Yet in these and many other such cases it turns out that the viscera were removed and the bodies embalmed.

  In other cases the bodies are in reality mummified—that is, desiccated—which can occur naturally under favorable conditions, such as the body being kept in sandy soil or a dry tomb or catacombs; it can also be induced by embalming. Several “incorruptible” saints’ bodies are revealingly described as “dry,” “darkened,” “wrinkled,” or the like, consistent with mummification (Cruz 1977; Nickell 2001, 7).

  Often, in such instances, clothing and wax face masks are used to minimize the emaciated appearance and make the bodies presentable for viewing (usually in glass cases in European churches). These skillfully made wax faces explain the lifelike appearance of such saints’ corpses when they appear in close-up photographs, like that of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes (Nickell 1993, 92). (Again, see figure 24.1)

  Again, as with the “petrified girl,” the opposite conditions to those of mummification may have been involved in some cases of supposedly saintly incorruptibility. For instance, long after the death of St. Catherine Labouré, “her body was found perfectly white and natural looking, even though her triple coffin had been affected in various ways by excessive moisture.” That extended even to her winding sheet (Cruz 1977, 35).

  For a discussion of many specific instances of saints’ “incorruptibility” and revealing facts concerning them, please see “The Incorruptibles” in my earlier book Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures (1993, 85–100).

  “VAMPIRES”

  While amazingly preserved corpses are found in various parts of the world, those discovered in certain Slavic countries may provoke a bizarre response. There, local people often believe that such preservation means the person is one of the “undead,” and so they drive a wooden stake through the heart and then burn the body to end the imagined ghoulish activities of the “vampire.”

  Wilson and Wilson (1992, 374–76) cite the story of an eighteenth-century Serbian man, Peter Plogojowitz, whose body was exhumed and, except for a somewhat sunken nose, “was completely fresh” an
d even had “some fresh blood in his mouth.” However, just such characteristics are frequently said to describe the “incorruptible” bodies of saints, for example, that of St. Sperandia (1216–1276), which was found intact well after her burial, exuding a “blood-fluid” (Cruz 1977, 48). Roman Catholics would not appreciate the suggestion that their saints were actually vampires! In contrast to the corpse of St. Sperandia, which was exhumed two years after her death, that of Plogojowitz had been interred little more than ten weeks. (For more on Plogojowitz, as well as explanations for the phenomena that give rise to a belief in vampires, see my Tracking the Man-Beasts, 2011, 121–29.)

  Among the ancients, the belief that illness could be cured by divine intervention was widespread.

  ANCIENT HEALING

  The Egyptians worshipped various gods—notably the ibis-headed Thoth, who could be appealed to for healing. (Typically, priests played the role of intermediaries.) In Mesopotamia, where angry deities supposedly caused afflictions, a sufferer could appeal to the god or goddess—if he or she knew just which of the many had been offended! The ancient Greeks also appealed to their deities, especially Aesculapius, the god of medicine.

  The ancient Jews recognized Yahweh (Jehovah) as the universal source of both illness and healing, although folk medicine might also be applied. (For instance, King Hezekiah was cured of an ulcerous boil by means of prayer and a fig poultice [2 Kings 20:1–11].)

  According to legends in the New Testament, Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, launched a healing ministry and effected seemingly miraculous cures of body and mind wherever he went. The Gospels record more than forty healing acts (not counting duplicate or parallel accounts)—either of individuals or groups.

  Jesus also gave his disciples the power of healing, saying that “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:15–18). (This practice continued in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, but Protestant reformers like Luther and Calvin held that the age of faith healings ended with the death of the apostles. Later, certain Protestants—particularly Pentecostals—revived the practice.)

  THE CURATIVE PROCESS

  It is crucial to realize that the body has natural healing mechanisms. Routinely, wounds mend, broken bones knit, infections respond to the body's immune system, and so on. According to one estimate, up to 75 percent of patients would get better even without medical treatment (Hines 1988, 239). What may pass for miraculous healing may actually be the result of one of the following.

  Misdiagnosis or misreporting. Illnesses may not be as believed or represented. For instance, one girl's “inoperable, malignant brain-stem tumor” was supposedly confirmed by two CT scans and attested by doctors at Johns Hopkins University. Actually, a medical investigator discovered that the “dark mass” in the CT scan was merely an imperfection of the scanning process, that the girl's physicians had not suspected a tumor at all, and that subsequently the “miracle” was an invented one (Randi 1987, 291–92).

  Spontaneous remission. Some serious ailments, certain types of cancer for example, may undergo what is termed “spontaneous remission.” They may either go away entirely or, as sometimes occurs, for instance with multiple sclerosis, they may abate for periods ranging from a few months to several years. Although the nature of such remissions is still not fully understood by medical science, the fact of their unpredictable occurrence is well documented. If a remission or regression should occur any time after a “healer” has performed his ritual, remission may be incorrectly attributed to his intervention (Hines 1988, 239; Larue 1990, 139).

  Psychosomatic illnesses. Certain illnesses demonstrate how interrelated are mind (psyche) and body (soma), being most amenable to “miracle” cures. A striking variety of psychosomatic conditions, ranging from back pains to hysterical blindness, are proven to be responsive to suggestion, whether in the form of faith healing, so-called hypnosis, “alternative” medical treatments (such as acupuncture or chiropractic), or placebo medications. The main requisite for curative effects is the patient's belief in the practitioner and his or her methods (Hines 1988, 238–39; Larue 1990, 139–43).

  Even illnesses with a distinct physical cause may respond partially to techniques of “mental medicine” such as meditation and “visualization” (in which the sufferer is encouraged to focus on his or her condition and envision a cure (for example, that a tumor is disappearing). Such approaches have been used together with traditional medicine in treating conditions like arthritis, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer (Baker 1990, 282–83). Pain is particularly responsive to suggestion. According to one authority, “The placebo effect and the temporal variability of pain in any painful disease work together to produce a powerful illusion that a faith healer or a quack has effected a ‘cure’” (Hines 1988, 238–39).

  Jesus’ “MIRACULOUS” CURES

  Whether or not the healings supposedly performed by Jesus actually occurred, they no doubt reflect similar afflictions and attitudes of the time, and explanations may be given accordingly. For example, the biblical word leprosy does not refer to the disease now called leprosy (Hansen's disease) but was loosely applied to a variety of skin disorders such as eczema, contagious ringworm, psoriasis, and the like. The woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who “had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had” (Mark 5:25–34) may have suffered from a chronic and painful menstruation of a nervous variety (United Church 1967). So, too, the man with “an infirmity” who waited for thirty-eight years beside the supposedly curative pool of Bethesda (John 5:2–9) could have suffered from a profound neurosis (United Church 1967). (Of the “multitude of invalids”—“blind, halt, withered”—lying in the porticoes, he was the only one selected for healing [see figure 25.1].)

  The various cases of demonic possession referred to in the Gospels are now seen as examples of psychiatric disorder (United Church 1967). Any of the illnesses cited above could prove responsive to charismatic healing, just as they were in the centuries after Jesus and have been to the present day. (Unfortunately, many of those so “cured” may receive only temporary relief before regressing to their former state and worse.)

  Restoration of sight to the blind would be an amazing act, seemingly magical however accomplished. Yet apart from charismatic healings of the hysterically blind, which ancient healers probably performed, there was another class of blindness cures: for the Essenes (members of a sect of Jesus’ contemporaries) used “empirical medical procedures to restore the sight of those afflicted with cataracts” (Craveri 1970, 71). Now Mark says Jesus healed the blind man by applying spittle (Pliny's Natural History suggests it as an eye ointment for curing opthalmia [Allegro 1970, 56]); Matthew claims he healed two blind men by a touch; Luke makes no reference to the blind man; while John says he used clay made from spittle to anoint the man's eyes. In the latter, more detailed account we see the application of an abrasive, following which the man was told to go wash. From the Book of Tobit in Catholic Bibles is a comparable account of Tobias treating his father, Tobit. He sprinkled gall upon his father's eyes, and when Tobit's eyes began to smart he rubbed them, whereupon the white films were removed (Tobit 11:11–13). Then Tobit saw his son and embraced him. Perhaps at the root of such accounts is some attempt to employ a “medical”—rather than magical—treatment. Whatever was done, we are told, was successful. It was seemingly miraculous.

  RAISING THE DEAD

  Resurrection of the dead is a magico-religious concept deriving from the ancient Egyptians. They thought that the actual physical body participated with the immortal soul in the afterlife—hence the emphasis on embalming “to insure that the remains of their loved one, bound for the underworld and its final judgment before the gods, would make the trip intact” (Carroll 1975, 77–78). Their art thus portrayed the winged soul hovering over the dead body (Budge 1901, 113), and chapter 158 of the Book of the Dead describes one embalmed figure rising from his swathings (Budge 19
01, 49).

  The concept may have been prompted by some first-hand observation: “In the ancient world there were many cases of the hasty burial of an apparently dead person, who, as a subsequent opening of the grave revealed, had awakened from his coma to a living death” (Enslin 1968, 151). (However, after Egyptian mummification, this was not possible, for the corpse was eviscerated—the brain removed by a hook inserted through the nostrils—and the organs were preserved in jars to be entombed with the dead person [Carroll 1975, 78–80]. Quite some magic would be required to revive such a one!)

  At some point, empirical attempts to resuscitate the comatose developed. Among the medical procedures employed by the pre-Christian Essenes were “mouth-to-mouth breathing techniques to revive the unconscious” (Craveri 1970, 71). Such procedures, commonplace today, may extend backward from the Qumran sect many centuries. The wonderworking prophet Elisha—as did Elijah before him—revived a small boy who was “not awake” (2 Kings 4:34–35): “And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.”